the jobs numbers. lampton on vice president trip -- on the vice president's trip to china. "washington journal" is next. ♪ good morning, it is a back to work week for the u.s. senate and the only week old houses in congress will be in session. negotiations sums on a possible agreement, the farm bill, and others are just some of the topics that will lead the debate in what is expected to be a busy five days for lawmakers. the flag of the u.s. capitol remains at half staff in honor of nelson mandela. the white house announced that the president and mr. obama -- and mrs. obama will be joined by presidents carter, clinton, and george w. bush honoring nelson

mandela. we're going to begin with your comments and calls on a recent survey. a pew research study indicating power has declined. join in on the conversation, the lines -- you can join us on our social media, send us a tweet or send us an e-mail, journal@c-span.org . or join us on facebook. let's begin with a look at some of the newspapers. front page of "the washington post" has a scene from johannesburg. nelson mandela began the journey from tribal air to revolutionary icon.

this from inside "the new york times," -- details from inside "the new york times." there is a new poll we want to draw your attention to. it essentially looks at the role we play in the world. here are some of the details --

support for u.s. global engagement is already nearing historic low and has fallen further. the public thinks that the nation does too much to solve world problems, and increasing percentages want the u.s. to "mind its own business internationally" and pay attention here at home. researcher from pew is joining us live on the phone. thank you for being with us. based on that summary, what struck you as you surveyed the mood of the country and how they view our role internationally? >> what struck us is that for the first time in nearly 40 years of polling, nearly half, 53%, now say u.s. is less was in thehan it

past. 2009, 40 one percent said it became less important, and 20% in 2004. this is a big jump. is this unusual or part of an ongoing trend we have seen in the last half-century echo -- half-century? guest: it has been going on but it is a trend that we have been seeing over the last decade or so. host: when it comes to our economic role in the world, what did you find in this study? guest: one thing that we found is over the last few years americans have come to believe that china is now the world's leading economic power. early 2008, 30% china was -- 30% said china was. 48% now see china as

the world's leading economic power. >> as you look at these numbers, and certainly the more notable events -- -- notable the attack on september 11, our role in iraq and afghanistan -- were these huge driving issues? that more see is recent events have contributed to this to some extent. is the way the situation in syria has played out. public disapprove of the way president obama has handled syria. for the most part it has been fairly good in recent years. 51% say the president is not tough enough in his approach to foreign policy.

! you how one organization is playing this story on the pew study. you can get the details on the al jazeera met -- on the al jazeera website. then there is this based on your survey, 70% of those surveyed said the u.s. command less respect than it did in the past, matching little scene toward the end of president george w. bush's second term. that was something that was also surprising to us because we also conduct our global attitude studies all over the world. the image of the united states is negative all end ofe world by the george w. bush presidency, then at that .70% of americans say

the u.s. was less respected around the world than it has been in the past. when barack obama came into office, we know that around the world u.s. relations improved. about 56% say this was the case in 2009 and in 2012. today it is back to 70%. likely --s are more in the credits have not changed it is not just partisanship driving. but there was a partisanship story there. host: what do we gather from all of that the echo -- from all of it? though americans

have seen that the u.s. has lost power in the world, that does not mean we cannot do more. one of the focuses is on problems at home. be ok with letting other countries help solve world problems and to not have it all be on the shoulders of the united states. she is a senior researcher at the pew research center, joining us live on the sunday morning. the poll is available online at pew research.org. thank you very much for being with us. are you more positive or more skeptical about our role in the world? is it in fact declining? do you agree or disagree with the findings? give us a phone call. we welcome our viewers and listeners outside the united states.

a quick look at some other headlines. the vice president is back in the u.s. after a weeklong trip to asia. yesterday, the president jill biden peered into the wilderness of north korea on saturday, making a time honored visit to the demilitarized zone just hours after north korea released a citizen -- we will be talking more on that issue later on in the program. you, america's

global power, is it declining? our first calls from georgia. the united states is getting better simply because president obama has pulled back from all of these foreign wars. it came out under george bush the president obama has exposed it and it is proven that they only people who are really interested in believe the united states is losing any kind of respect and power is the right- wing -- this is what they're trying to do. we lose the reserve currency of the dollar and have to print money. and also, these questions -- it is basically just the opinion of the person.

it is not only in a military, how strong you are militarily, it is how you have dialogues. host: thank you for the call. you mentioned the nsa. there was a story this morning -- the piece begins with these words --

next is gilbert from tulsa oklahoma. on the question of u.s. global power, is it the climbing or on the rise he echo caller: -- on the rise? caller: to me it is declining. there is a difference between being that between being the strongest and the most powerful. i think we are the strongest but not the most powerful. the nations we have gone to war with are more powerful than we are financially. look at japan. look at south korea, look at germany. we areere at home, losing all kinds of respect at home. we are all over the world shooting and killing people. barack obama was not savvy enough to understand what was going on in washington dc.

we will go to texas, ronnie, what is your take on -- on this? on this is in: as long as obama there -- [indiscernible] normal from west palm beach florida on the democrats line. caller: people voted for change. now that we have so much chagnnge they don't like it. host: al from castle tin new york, good morning. to answer the question, i don't think the u.s. is on the decline at all. to a happyhave come

medium since 9/11. me only thing that bothers is we have allowed our ceos to go to the communist countries and exploit their cheap labor at the expense of their own people. ron from littleton, pennsylvania, you are next. caller: i believe we are on the decline because of president obama's policy. i am sure the founding fathers -- there is this from dean on our twitter page -- we will continue with more pure calls in just a moment. this is from politico.com. a preview of the president's

travel and the logistics into getting into south africa on short notice. write -- shortly after thursday's announcement of mandela's that, secretary service were en route from the u.s. to south africa. they were joined by officials dispatched from the secret service is. with countless world figures set on johannesburg, the world will be trained on the memorial service to remember a man who embodied the struggle against apartheid and changed world history. by the time the president dutchs, months work of months work of work will be crammed into 72 hours. work will beth of

crammed into 72 hours. next is cindy joining us from virgin you on the independent line on the question based on a pew research study on u.s. global power. is it declining, cindy? caller: hi, how are you? host: fine. go ahead, please. that the have to say businessmen in this country that have gone over to these other countries and actually given away our technology, and because of the greed and cheap labor, they are the ones who are running this whole fiasco throughout the world.

until we get people up there -- and the congress and so forth, and the greed in the pride -- basically they look at what the people of the united states of america needs and start working for the country again, we will never ever be able to continue. worse -- wars are not the answer. anybody feels pride in their own country. that it isis agreed greed. think it is greed. things will change but it is the greed that is killing everybody. never ended, it just has been moved overseas. he will see this around the world. that is all i have to say about the situation. this is from one of our

regular tweeters -- you can send us a tweet at @ cspanwj. smaller is better, a look at the us military out at west point. --begins with these words

democrats line, good morning. i was looking at a question you are asking. was honest,g everybody was being honest -- i am in georgia. these hear me out.

we are in a red state that republicans control. do isbill they detrimental to the lower class. they are deceiving people. when you have all these people all these and saying ugly things about president obama -- you think the world has just ordered declining five years ago? we have been on the road for 30 years. look at what is happening in the world. am looking at how in the world can the stock market be so hot when nobody has good jobs? we forgot the struggle.

out of protestet in our own right. we have gotten too comfortable with iphones. you will see a whole line overnight for phones. that is what is happening. we look at it the wrong way. we can change all this. it is not the companies that we have allowed the rich to overtake even our own thinking. the republicans came here last week, telling young people not to get insurance. where does that make sense anywhere in the world? it is hypocrisy. you for adding your voice to the program.

we welcome all points of view and all perspectives. this is from another viewer who says america's power is viewed -- the president spoke at an event sponsored by the brookings institution, focusing on u.s. relations. on saturday say the chances of a permanent bestar deal with iran are 50-50 odds. the president has urged restraint. the u.s. will be in a stronger position to take more ineffective international -- more effective

international sanctions. here's the president. [video clip] >> one of the things i have , why should we try to negotiate with them? we are being naive. what i try to describe to them is not the choice between this deal and the ideal of the choice between this deal and alternatives. if we could create an option in which iran illuminated every single not and both -- and that's and bolts of their nuclear program and forswear possibility of having any nuclear programs and got rid of its nuclear capabilities, i would take it.

the consequence of what we have decision as tot given the options available. what is the best way to ensure that iran does not get a nuclear weapon? the best ways to test this diplomatic path. the president in washington dc. the entire event is available on our website. you can check it out anytime at c-span.org. if you are just tuning in or listening to us on c-span radio, we are focusing on a question from the pew research center focused on u.s. global power. and it declining role of around the world as our engagement slips. do you agree or disagree with this study? just this past week, the -- line

a detailed idea about security arrangements saying, under a possible peace agreement, presentation made to president that in yahoo! last thursday -- to president netanyahu last thursday -- alan's first briefing to the german prime minister and providing mr. kerry with some and theal topics, secretary of state making a trip last wednesday to provide political support to eastern european nations that are seeking cologne -- seeking closer political ties with the european union. the secretary of state is here in washington this weekend, hosting the kennedy center honorees. the president will host them today for an event that will take place at the kennedy center , including billy joel who will be among those being honored.

you can see that later this month on the cbs networks. next is alan joining us from tallahassee florida. caller: good morning. eu andto thank brian and susan and the rest of the c-span staff for the good job you do in journalism and thanks for the opportunity to have a few words we are inve that decline in the main reason is because we got away from the bible. if we keep on doing it we are going to end up a third world country like africa, asia, and too many other parts of the world. that is all i have to say. thank you for c-span. this is a story inside "the washington post" --

it will force the p5 one nations to and the sanctions in exchange for dismantling part of the nuclear program in that country. roses joining us from grand

prairie, texas. good morning. we are on a think decline. as i travel outside of the country a lot, people see us as becoming weaker and weaker because we are so divided within our own country. right now the president has to be one of the most respected presidents throughout u.s. history, and people see this. it makes us look weak. are on a decline because of that, mainly. december 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. a very brisk clear saturday morning here in washington at the world war ii memorial, remembering 1941.

those old enough to member what happened and including those who part of what tom brokaw called the greatest generation. democrats line, good morning. i think in this time in only the, no man -- republicans want to go to war. host: we will go to jack from newark, new jersey. you are on the air. i think we -- when we attack countries, we should notice that it makes people angry. we should stop attacking

countries and help support the countries that kill innocent people. -- hat get killed of cqthe cover story weekly is focused on israel and iran. it is titled -- there is this story from "the weekly standard" focusing on the midterm elections -- next is james joining us this morning from valley village, california. i don't really consider myself an independent or republican or democrat. i see myself as a humanitarian. being that i dedicated my life

to traveling the world, i don't see where any types of war or weapons is the solution to anything. next is kathleen from texas. caller: good morning. i am a military mother. quit the military. he trains people for three times what he makes as a private contractor. america is in decline because we have outsourced our wealth. 40% of americans make under 20,000 a year. torture and not outsourced every, -- and outsource slavery. more americans than al qaeda on 9/11 and 10 times the amount of iraq ease and saddam, and he gets a library. that is why america is a joke.

i love you, steve. host: kathleen from texas. continue our feature, first ladies, influence and image. you can watch the program every monday beginning at 9:00 eastern time here on c-span. all of the programs from martha washington through betty ford have already been posted on our website. of tomorrow evening we focus on rosalynn carter. an interview we conducted with her in atlanta georgia, the headline -- here's the reporting as rosalynn carter feels that during the iranian hostage crisis the doomed her husband's presidency, she begged jimmy carter to do actionng that any u.s.

would lead to public hangings of american hostages. she called the crisis awful and something that haunted her which he campaigned for husband's reelection effort. campaign stops, supporters asked why president carter was not doing something to recover the hostages. tell the would say president to do something, tell him he has to do something. that is this morning from "the washington examiner." the full program is tomorrow. we continue the series after the first of the year as we focus on nancy where he can -- on nancy reagan through michelle obama. michael is joining us from new york. caller: thank you for your program. influenced --

[indiscernible] from columbia, maryland also on the phone. caller: good morning. i think you are doing a wonderful job. talking, igin will say our country is a great country overall. we are not declining. wet is happinening is that are all in a pot of stew and we money.our heads in our our future and everything is focusing on the outside world, businesses and jobs. our future kids are not going to

be able to have a job in the future. it'sno not about who the best or worst president is. through our history we have had good presidents in america. what is going on is that we have our businesses in those countries. come lo tt of people who to this country, they come in here and they take in peoples' jobs. the worst thing is we are not following our laws anymore. call.thank you for the this is another tweeter saying --

bloomberg news has this story based on the economic power of the u.s. and the power viewed around the world. simon kennedy writes -- when the u.s. grew at a healthy pace, its citizens were buyers, fueling demands for the goods in china and other nations. the cap the world's economy humming. it may not work that way anymore . a rebounding u.s. is giving less support for you -- for global growth than it has in the past. the smallest u.s. current account deficits since 1999 shows the trend and the discovery of new domestic sources of oil and gas, it reinforces this issue. the country is spending less on imported energy."

you can read the full story on bloomberg's website. the front page of "the pittsburgh post-gazette" -- a look at some of the victims from one year ago and a story that will likely get a lot of attention in the week ahead. this is from "the detroit free press" -- you can get more information by logging on to freep.com. next is robert from massachusetts. decline andre in the reason is because we, as a viewed -- when the world

our opinion not to go to war, we would not go with our allies. we are ia country that has of thed because one world sees our moral fabric has declined, that is a decline any way. when bush stole the election world looked the --it is not a has way we go about the world. said we havellers the most disrespected presidents. how does the worldview that? it is a holy mentality. then you look at what happened in wall street, the greed that

is going on. this is all that. we are meddling in too many wars. these are the kinds of declines that the country must look at. we are too divided. is theebody to say obama most respected president is a joke. i do think for al gore to lose ,he election the way he lost it that makes a big thing. will stop you there. thank you for your call. gene says this -- the headline from "the new york

times close quote -- times" -- york he points out -- if you are just tuning in, we are focusing on a service -- on a survey that just came out from the pew research center. .ou can get it online the question, is it declining? we will be back with a few more mom and -- with a few more of your calls.

preview -- [video clip] talk about at to war on women, look no further than this health-care law. just consider some of the stories i have heard from folks in my district. she and herld me husband received cancellation notices and the replacement would told their premiums. help,he called to ask for the insurance company told marianne that if she does not sign up for a plan to law requires the enrolled her in a suggested policy. this increase will consume their gas and grocery money for the month. now she sees no choice but to cancel their insurance altogether. pat and his wife are in their mid-50's and their premium is going to jump from 248 dollars to $968 per month.

that is nearly four times higher. aey have always preferred high deductible policy because they work hard to stay in good health. when they do need care, they like to shop for the best value. seen, this administration thinks it knows better than they do. then there is liz from sanford. business owner with only two employees, herself at her husband. their premiums went up 127%. she and her husband are regular hard-working healthy americans. she said, we are not wealthy. seeing so many hard-working people spending the holiday season wondering what is next, it is heartbreaking and wrong. the republican response to the president's weekly address,

focusing on the president's health-care law, the affordable care act. there's this comment on our question of u.s. global power, is it declining? mike says -- you can join in on the conversation. and gary is joining us from tennessee. caller: good morning. i think the country is declining. our people in this country are disgusted. we are dependent on jobs from fast food restaurants to raise our families. it is ridiculous. i feel sorry for this country. question of u.s. global power declining, kevin says --

coming up at 10:00 eastern time, 7:00 on the west coast, newsmakers. our guest host is democratic representative adam smith, ranking member of the house armed services committee. tongass returns and both the congress senate -- returns in both the house and senate this week. lawmakers work on a compromise led by senator's -- by senator patty murray of washington state and paul ryan from wisconsin. here is a preview of our discussion with representative adam smith. >> congress has to wake up and understand the budgets are getting smaller. that is just the way it is, so let us make some intelligent decisions on how to do it instead of trying to defend every little piece of the budget

. i think the president has tried to take hold of this approach. i hope congress tends to be more cooperative. certainly costs are going to have to be more of a part of it. we have to be sure we have the training and necessary -- joining our conversation is representative adam smith. newsmakers as every sunday at 10 a.m. eastern time. a rebroadcast at 6 p.m. eastern. two other items from the sunday paper i want to bring to your attention before we take a quick , first from "the new york times," a compelling photograph of america at its plainest. what makes people stay back of this is from "the new york times" sunday magazine. and they look from "the washington post" out look

session -- outlook section. american university, as well. you can read it online or check it out from the outlook section. going to take a short break and take a look at the programs focusing on elson mandela and the other issues on the sunday shows. will be, paul singer joining us as we focus on the midterm elections. , erictest economic report moorad will be joining us -- eric morath will be joining us. the morning, nancy. >> on today's talkshows, the topic will include the life and legacy of nelson mandela, also foreign-policy issues, including

iran and rising tensions in china and the latest on the rollout of the health-care law. you can hear rebroadcast of the program on c-span radio, beginning at noon eastern nbc's "meet the press." guests include reverend jesse jackson and al sharpton and a law professor at harvard university. at 1 p.m., it is abc's "this week." durbin andader dick a member of the budget and finance committees. at 2 p.m. it is "fox news sunday." just include rand paul, ezekiel manual, former adviser to president obama, and if -- and a former south african prime minister. -- congressman mike mccall and democratic representative adam schiff. he is a member of the intelligence community. "face thestern, it is nation." bob schieffer talks with my angelo.-- with maia

talk showsnetwork tv are on c-span radio men are brought to you as a public service by the network and c- span. the showadcast of begins at noon eastern time with nbc's "meet the press." three eastern, cnn's "state of the union," and that for it is "face the nation." listen to them all on c-span the washington dc area, across the country on xm satellite radio channel 120. or can download our free app listen online at c-span radio.org. >> things escalate so quickly. seems so loving can just turn and seems so out of control.

this is one of those days. it ended with adam packing to leave and he said -- on top of all the other pressures they had no money. gun and came out with a shotgun and really tried to jam it at her. it would get her so much that she would pull the trigger and kill him. >> the return home is only half the story. david finkel follows the man from the second battalion's 16th infantry. -- at 8:00.:00 and >> "washington journal" continues. host: paul singer is the politics editor of "usa today."

thank you for being with us. let's talk about the legislative week because it is a busy week for washington. the only time the house and senate are in session, what can you expect? the first thing we can hope for is a budget deal, particularly between paul ryan and patty murray in the senate. there is every signal that we could get a two-year budget he'll that would allow all of us to no longer worry about shutdowns in january. host: there have been some talk that some of the big-ticket items, medicare, medicaid, social security, would be part of this agreement. there will be a little bit more -- basically trying to

get rid of the sequester funding cuts. there will be a little bit more order in the spending levels. i think the major victory here is buying two years of stability and sanity. that is what the real victory for both sides will be. we'll patty murray have senate democrats on board? he doesn't need them all. usual, you need enough republicans to join with a lot of democrats in the house and move this while still allowing 40 or 50 of the most conservative tea party republicans to say they are not going to support it because it raises spending levels above what they want.

you look at the senate votes and the houseboats. everybody realizes it will be more useful to buy two years worth of argument without having to face crisis. how angry are senate republicans about the infection of the nuclear option and what impact will that have not only in the short term but in the next two weeks and also the year ahead? guest: it is basically going to start up tomorrow or monday night when they get back. we will see how willing they are to throw up barricades to any sort of legislation. you pull the plug, every other party is going to protest the way that the other parties

going to protest every way it can. we don't know how angry they are .bout the appointees are they going to try to find some way to object the procedure, any kind of procedure? we will see. they're very upset about it. democrat to upset about it to. the whole concern was when you limit the rights of minorities you limit the rights of future minorities. two stories from your website and usa today, chris christie holding onto the story points out that in advance of the expected 2016 for the campaign for presidency, chris christie's administration is stepping up efforts to control the governor's image at all costs, including burning the sunshine

laws that permit access to these records. it is not only because it is a disclosure problem. part of it is keeping track. error so many different government agencies involved at the state, the federal, and the local level. it can be very difficult to figure out where all this money has gone and what has been done with it. i am frankly surprised to see any administration attempting to withhold that information. it is not entirely clear people understand what they have. sooner or later they will hand over as much information as they got. you cannot run your campaign with a slogan of, i want to be your president but not give you any information. appeared at the economic club. we covered his beach. he told a reporter that his wife

is so far not on board with a potential run for the white house. guest: the fact of the matter is, is he going to run for the president of united states? humor going to have to give up your entire private life, the family will give up their private life, you have to go around the country for two years or more, taking people for money and their votes. -- begging people for money and their votes. indicationnt is an -- the president is an indication that being president is an indication you are not right for the job. president is an indication you are not right for the job. host: we talk about the week ahead for congress. susan is joining us from decatur, illinois, democrat line. good morning. toler: i wanted to talk

about president obama when he build out all the costs in detroit. if he agreed to bail them out, his agreement should have been ,hat they bring every not, old and higher back to america so america's workers can make an american car. that would have been my terms on that. i think the president went wrong on that one. i think he should have had a few more issues with the car people. >> let me direct your attention to the front page story of the detroit free press the the newspaper asking detroit residents about their concerns or frustrations, fears, promise, or hope to -- or hope. the caller has a point.

this was part of the president's reelection campaign, general motors is live -- is alive. that does not mean detroit is alive and -- is alive. a lot of the automobile jobs in the united states has moved to some of them -- has moved. some of them are in tennessee. they are american name -- american cars with japanese plates. -- anan industry interesting question what you call an american made car. a toyota made in tennessee and american car you go it is a difficult one to legislate. randles on the line for

independents. i wanted to address the entitlement issues being used for the budget. this administration is trying to get social security into the fray. that means they probably would have lost money on the bailout. before mr. singer came on, you are discussing the decline of america. commented iteople was the middle class being destroyed. they are full and people by cutting down with the poor [indiscernible] i think the women are really --

[indiscernible] and pute it a fair shot her in there. >> thank you for the copy of let me ask about --host: thank you for the call. let me ask you about elizabeth lauren. warren.beth i don't take any promises seriously for 2016 until late 2014. the fact of the matter is, if you have a window of opportunity and see your window of opportunity, you take it. it comes around once in a lifetime. while i do not doubt elizabeth lauren, her intention -- elizabeth warren, her intention, it is entirely possible that she says, ther mind and

situation has changed and i change my mind. brought up ther issue of funding programs like medicare and medicaid. i want to put unemployment benefits on the table because that is going to be a part of i want to put unemployment benefits on the table. that will be part of the debate. we heard from nancy pelosi, that says, no budget deal unless there is an extension on unemployment benefits. she seemed to backtrack a little bit on that. firm democrats seem to be they want to see the extension which could impact 1.3 million americans at the end of this month. what is the latest? house republicans have not said no to that. eager boehner said he is open to .ome of this you get a problem every time you do this. can you spend the spending while at the same time finding a way to not blow the budget? is there something to offset it with to produce cost savings that would prevent it?

we will see. this tends to be extending benefits for both sides. it is difficult to say that they will cut off a million people. we will see if they have time to get something done over the next week or so. host: let's turn back to 2014 politics. state oftest red appreciation for appropriations, the senator writes his decision to set up a unique test for groups that have targeted incumbents. he is a six term republican, but loved in mississippi, facing a tea party challenge, and we should point out he has not have that had a tough contest. >> i do not know if he has raised money yet either. people are waiting for the senator to announce his

retirement because he had raised very little money, had not done , sixto build up a campaign --ms now, folks thought was this was the time the senator would step away. he chose to step up and he was going to run. it is an interesting race to watch because it is a republican seat. i do not think there is any doubt. a strong republican state. you now get into warfare if you have a tea party challenger accusing the senator of having through giant deficits the role in the appropriations committee. uglybecomes a really conversation within the party. >> let me also share with you one of the latest as in louisiana. of ah care and the use

familiar scene in louisiana, the theme of the said, let's watch the -- let's watch. >> there is a danger. andthey are in a hunt headed for you. >> people were not be able to keep their current insurance because of the federal health care overall. >> louisianians are struggling because of obamacare. reporters, "iold am not concerned for anything." forcast the deciding vote obama care in the first place. it is the brave new world of government incompetence that we will live in. line for that is interesting because that is new. the brave new world of government incompetence. that is something the launch of the obamacare website has over -- website hasup

opened up for republicans. it is no longer it is better for you. -- the government is better for you. these guys are incompetent buffoons. problems with the nsa, spying, leaks, the problem of the health-care website that does not work, he looks like the government is having difficulty operating. -- and now he says the democratic senators are wrong on governing. that is intriguing to me. clough let me share you this stock. president obama is making a big comeback if only he could get the news out to millions of homeless.

guest: every time we have a conversation about on employment numbers, it is the same. it is a question of whether you are in power or out of power. out of power, unemployment goes up, proving america is in trouble. if you're out of power, unemployment going down cruise there is trouble because people have gotten it -- gotten frustrated. both of those facts are true. is also true, if the economy continues to improve, particularly if the improvement picks up over time, the democrats will have a much more comfortable ground to run on because you begin to have a situation where we are no longer at war, a major issue in the prior campaigns. the economy is getting better and that is another issue off the table. then the democrats have the opportunity to say, by the time

they are actually at the polls in a year, there will be a bunch of people enrolled in the health care, whether or not we thought was a good idea now in december, a year from now, there will be millions of people enrolled in it and it may be less turmoil and may take an issue off the table for democrats and may be easier for them to run that way. i whirl -- i worry less about month-to-month employment statistics. but i care about is, do do people feel the economy is etting better? that works well for democrats. bumbling bureaucrats. they have been given on a silver platter the opportunity to make that case. suchalth care rollout was a message gives republicans the opportunity to say, this was

their policy. this was their law. and they could not make it work and it is costing you millions. i do not know what the final tally will be on the cost of this website, but it will be hundreds of millions of dollars and people can say, fairly, and it has not worked. said it is close to $1 billion. >> it is hard to know exactly what number applies to which. last number i saw, i do not know if it is just for the website or the website and some things underneath it. it will be hundreds of millions of dollars. >> on the issue of jobless numbers, we saw the same thing from the speaker of the house, who said the drop is an indication we do not need more government stimulus. that is another way to look at this. if you will say people are getting jobs in the private sector, it proves we could stop the government spending and

government stimulus. i think the report indicated government employment is still down. the unemployment rate is dropping and people are getting jobs, even with government employment declining. a nice opportunity for republicans to make the point it is the private sector that will lift you out of economic hard times, not the public-sector. the democratic response is absolutely true, but when the , itate sector was week needed government spending to bolster it. that is what obama's 2009 stimulus did in particular, bridge the gap while the private sector came back. paul singer,is politics editor for usa today. we welcome our listeners on c- span radio, here in the baltimore-washington area, and speaking of jobs and the

economy, this is the headline, another election getting a lot of attention is chris christie as charlie crist tries to take his old job back in florida, challenging rick scott, the republican governor. many promises and few jobs. scott as the republican governor ran in 2010 with a promise to make more than 700,000 new jobs in florida and he has not kept that. >> he has had great difficulty in this state. interestinglways holidays. the fact that charlie crist is back is wacky. here is a guy who was a republican governor, considered too moderate to be the governor in the state, and he then came back as an independent and lost than a democrat and embraces obama. somehowlarity is rivaling that of an input -- incumbent republican governor.

the whole state is entertaining. there is a congressional seat down there that will be fun to watch. congressman bill young, who passed away, there will be a very interesting race to replace him. i would become a political reporter because it is just so much fun. >> joe has been waiting on the phone so we will go to him next in south carolina. good it -- good morning. good morning. i'm happy to wait. i wanted to talk about the 2016 elections. since you talked about obamacare and how it may affect future elections, the midterms, i think, republicans will benefit from the mess with her -- with obamacare. you have to dial back the clock to 2010. thearch of that year,

affordable care act became law. and the republicans benefited and took the house in november 2010. moving forward, i want to ask you about the viability of the third-party 2016. frankly, i am a supporter of the constitution party. .udos to steve and c-span mentioned politicians will be on the road for two years trying to get money from supporters and as you also probably note, the constitution party will accept no more than $200 for many individual and no money from corporations so that they will not be indebted to anyone. no lobbyists. they are free to do whatever they want. they won't not owe anybody anything ever is. my problem is they are not accepted on the national level on any major network and debates. on the the mood even show. all we are talking about republicans and democrats. something has got to go. there has got to be a move to

get at least a third party on the national debate level. responding tom debate questions. what do you think? class i have written a lot about a third presidentialularly debates and a third. it is really interesting. get on the ballot nationwide. they have to go state. i spoke to the vice presidential candidate from the constitutional party. they are spending all their time and money jig just getting their names on the ballot to run for president. start ahey could even campaign about why they should be voted for. the deck is stacked against them in interesting ways. they have to have 50 state campaign's first and get an opportunity to get people to love for them before they can ask people to vote for them. a bit of a mess. the other issue you have, is -- i mean this in the nicest possible way.

you said the constitutional party limits donors to $200. you have just marched yourself off the stage. in america, money is politics. i am not saying that is a good or bad thing. i am saying the way the system is currently constructed, if you do not raise a significant amount of money, you cannot pay for advertising, you cannot pay for campaign signs, you cannot pay to travel to your appearances. he will lose. .ou will not be competitive does that call for a major reform of our political system or for it a change in the way the third-party raises its money ? not my issue. i will tell you and the supreme court has said this, money is politics. money is free speech.

one of the reasons third parties are not able to make a big splash is they do not have the money, one of the reasons ross perot could do it. he had a billion dollars. he could by the time on television and he could by the attention he needed. for is a fundamental issue all the third parties. can they get enough money to buy entry into our political system? i hate to put it that way in a democracy, but it is a fundamental question. class michael says this -- don fromto mississippi, tennessee -- memphis, tennessee, rubble can line. >> good morning. good morning. i mentioned this administration and the little league from behind, i think is probably the

most asinine phrase i have ever heard in my life. leaving from behind means that things are going rough, the guy in back gets to retreat first. so, i am totally confused. we used to be a world power. it amazes me everything he has had a negative effect on our economy and our country. >> we will get a response. guest: the lead from behind thing is an interesting thing. how much can you go out front i will give you iran as an example. , i think, itation is fair to say it is leading negotiations with iran. over their nuclear program. idea depends on

which side of the aisle you are which political side, republican or democrat, depends on whether or not you believe iran is something you can negotiate with, or if you are in israel's camp that this is ridiculous and we are being duped. for any president, there are issues where you stake your claim and say, we will try this, and you willlead take a lot of flack for it and america is a country that is sometimes very skeptical of people who step out front and try to push the country into things. you can also make the argument that obama led on obamacare. that he led the country and fought for the bill, although i think there are people in the senate who would tell you they are the ones who did all the hard work. very interesting challenge to figure out when you someeading a nation into

sort of a policy, and when you are a nation that does not want to go and it is a fine line. if you are dragging a nation that does not want to go, you will be in trouble. >> let's go back to our earlier conversation about the week ahead and the iran deal. this is from joe in georgia with the e-mail. you can send us an e-mail. he says, -- a it is not a peace deal. they do not have to approve it. it is a test deal. some sanctions on iran

for six months. they supposedly put on hold some of their nuclear enrichment. it is seen as a step to be seeing whether additional peace i do not want to use those terms, peace, but whether additional negotiations are wise -- possible.areas the question will be whether the senate or congress decides to impose new sanctions on iran now. there has been an argument that, before we progressed down this iran,of negotiations with we should prove we are serious by imposing new sanctions. a caveat. impose the sanctions but they will not kick in until six months from now and they will not kick in at all if you do the right thing. the administration is really a post and they do not want

anybody to talk about sanctions right now. we have madesee if any progress. >> we talked about this yesterday in washington sponsored by the brookings institution. you can watch it online. will from california, good morning, democrats line. i would like to say the democrats and progressives in the united states have to emphasize the fact that the legislature is the one that enacts laws and legislative laws. done itsess has not job. they have failed miserably. gop has takenthe over leadership. instead of trying to enact legislation that would help americans, they are just going about to nullify the presidency. factu are right about the that this congress has produced historically low numbers of laws. put a fun little chart on usa

today, we put it on the paper -- in the paper and online. congress, unproductive, usa today, you will find it. it tracks over history the rise and fall of legislation. backup for a minute. you could make the argument, particularly amongst the kind of rand paul and ron paul wing of that lessican party, legislation is a good thing. the whole idea is that there should be less government, less legislation indicates less government and that may be good. perfectly fine philosophical argument. the issue you see is there have been years, when the u.s. congress has passed 300 and 400 pieces of legislation. year, 2013, they are on pace to pass 50 to 60 bills into law, which would be something

like half of the previous low in recorded history of congress. it is clear that the legislative process is not working to produce even a bill or a law that would undo some government program. and that speaks to the extreme partisan gridlock in washington. nothing gets done and we can actually tell you the math, how little actually gets done. >> last week on his blog, chuck todd indicating there is question what -- as to whether or not senator mark warner will seek another term. ande is news this weekend the story is available online at politico.com, a trial balloon, former chair of the republican national committee, former aide to president george w. bush, saying the senate race is winnable.

he spoke to republicans gathered homes --me failed homestead resort saying he is thinking he is running for the senate in the commonwealth of virginia. how likely? >> who knows. the thing about virginia and the government for ill race, it really highlights this, is that wherea very divided state political skill and political craftsmanship may be more important than statesmanship, ort -- nobody would argue would have argued 10 years ago, the terry mcauliffe was the guide who was going to lead the nation into prosperity, or would be the voice of reason in virginia. what he is is a smart guy with really good political skills and very good connections to money, very good connections to the

democratic party, and the ability to run a campaign. we are not sure how he will govern. i am not saying he is a bad guy. but it changes the dialogue. once upon a time, and mark warner is a good example, the waser for virginia frequently considered a stepping off point for the presidency of the united states. if you could win statewide in virginia, it is a nice place to for at national candidates national office. virginia is very divided state. it has a heavily washington government based in new york, a rural conservative base in the south. if you could win statewide in virginia, it makes you a potential national candidate. i do not think terry is a potential national candidate. but given the right race at the right time with the right resources and the right political strategy, there is no reason they could not win.

races.s focus on other a special election with the passing of congressman young and a former congressional staffer for that seat. here is one ad just-released days ago for the contest. to fix what is broken in washington. he will get things done. david will continue at bill young started. >> that means standing up for our military and wounded veterans. >> he has been there for us. class all of us. >> let's replace obamacare. it is a mess of broken promises. >> we cannot afford it. >> a conservative image edition of no young. >> i approved this message. as you look at the demographics of this congressional district, it is one of the few truly competitive house races. >> yes. this election is not a november but a march election. it becomes interesting because

everybody can focus their resources on this race and this race alone for the narrow window of time. as soon as it is over, everybody ourclaim our message one, anti-obama message, pro obamacare, anti-whatever, pro- choice, anti-abortion, whatever the message is, millions of dollars are going to flow into the race because, it is a tossup, a truly evenly split istrict, and bill young representative for years and there is a lot of pent-up energy for candidates waiting for an opportunity. because everybody is hoping this will be the race that proves our ideological position is on the rise. david is joining us. good morning.

good morning, c-span, the best channel on television. good morning steve and paul. i am a world war ii veteran who everyted in general -- federal state and most municipal elections since president harry truman. how old are you? caller: 90 years young next month. england and was discharged october 20, 1945. on this one day after the anniversary of the attack of pearl harbor. i was living in the brussels my mother and father and brother and was listening to and they had on the

football game between the giants and the dodgers. but i want to get to the topic. because at the beginning of october, the government was shut down for and oureks representatives do not represent us. 90% of them are out for themselves. politicians are running for office, they will tell you anything they want to hear and look at their records. do their actions speak louder than their words? when they are running for office, they have four priorities. one, do everything possible to get reelected and two, do everything possible for the party, and three, do everything possible for the special interests. four, do something for the

electorate, if possible. we, the american people, have to do, is a lack candidates who have the following priorities. one, do everything possible for the electorate. two, do everything possible for the electorate. everything possible for the electorate, and four, do everything possible for the electorate. i will put that on our website. that should be the motto. caller: i attempt to start a to get rid of all the incumbents in the november of 2014. we will have you travel down to c-span to talk about this and take more calls. thank you. i just want to say, they

get reelected. i totally honor your outrage. i understand it and in many ways, i agree with it. i track money and politics. sometimes i think to myself, man, these guys are all crooks. offer legislative and political favors to people who pay the money. that is bribery and this -- extortion. but they get reelected in part because sometimes they are of great service to their constituents. i will tell you many of them put constituent service first, not in what you think of as the broad electrics are -- electorate service, but the little service, you call your congressperson and say, i am having difficulty with my social security or highway department in my state, that stuff, they respond to instantly. a lot of it is constituent service first.

you are right that large the partyf them see as their route to success, and not individual voters and not the individual districts. they see being a strong supporter of their party is their route to the next level and they are selfish that way. we have to move on but thank you for phoning in. we appreciate it. caller: i want to finish if i could. i want to remind the american and the governor from south carolina spoke about the third-party and paul spoke about money and everything. i would like to remind the american people that the first three words to the preamble of the constitution are not money to the people, they are we, the people. david, thank you very

much. nine years old. she does other races getting a lot of attention. this from democratic senator mark pryor. another democrat in a southern state in a tough reelection battle. this has been getting a lot of attention on youtube. let's watch. >> i am not ashamed to say i believe in god and his word. the bible teaches us no one has all the answers. only god doug -- does. neither political party is always right. this is my compass, my north star. it gives me comfort and guidance arkansas. is best for i am mark pryor and i approved this message because this is who i am and what i believe. this race will get a lot -- a lot of attention. an important democrat seat, one republicans think they can recapture. what is the at all about? the values ofg to

arkansas. if you're going to run for youic office in arkansas, should probably stand next to god and be right on guns. those issues matter to a voter to matter what your party affiliation is. candidate for the senate does not make an ad like this unless they believe they are vulnerable on issue that matters to the constituents. if people do not believe mark pryor is god-fearing, it will be difficult for him to be reelected in arkansas. great cycle, a guy named john barrow in georgia, about the gun issue. he was stroking the rifle that had been his grandfather's gun. he was basically coddling it in

his lap. andm in favor of your guns, do not worry about me." you try to make your point without subtlety. that is politics. host: a follow-up -- the last at i want to share with you, this is from the wyoming senate race, and it was released a few weeks ago but gives you a sense of the challenge with cheney is facing as she tries to unseat mike lindsey in that state. my great-grandfather first settled in the county in 1907. >> he and our great-great- grandmother raise our five grandchildren. one was the first deputy sheriff of the county. >> we are proud of our grandma and grandpa. he was vice president of the united states. >> we are proud of our mom.

>> i approved this message. secrett has been no there has been a political civil war within the cheney family on a number of issues, most notably gay marriage. what is going on at that race? guest: liz cheney, this was not a raise everybody was anticipating. mike was not considered at risk at this time around. to cheney has a challenge is ave -- prove that she regular wyoming citizen, and she does come from his family with tremendous political background, not all of it in wyoming. they are in this dispute about the fact her sister is gay and married. make a fundamental case that mike is a bad guy and wrong for wyoming. has not know if that case yet been made. at the moment, the focus of

i am a real, wyoming girl and i want to be your next senator. we will get later to the race about whether it is the wrong guy and if so, live here that is really what the race will be about. i am not convinced gay marriage will become -- this is an all republican state. -- wenot a place we risk expect the republican candidate to lose. >> holsinger, his work is available online. as always, we appreciate checking in with you. thank you for joining us. as we have been talking about during the course of the morning, the jobless rate is falling to seven percent. we will check in about the numbers and what it means for the state of the economy and later as tensions continue to rise between the u.s. and china, david, an expert in china at johns hopkins school of international studies. he will join with his thoughts of what is next.

span, we are featuring the history and literary scene of the northern idaho city and on american history tv and booktv, 5:00 eastern time on c- span3, we will air our look at the area's connection to the area nation and its leader, richard butler, and how concerned citizens fought against the group. here is a preview. >> an aerospace engineer who retired in the mid-70's and moved with his wife betty and they bought property and he make the land and property a nonprofit church. that was basically the birth. 1981, they burned the first cross there on the property and started holding annual world congresses. >> richard butler was not a

person that was dynamic and he was not a great speaker, but he was quite effective at publicity. lot ofas able to get a publicist he not only with the national media, but even at times international media. i think they were fascinated with the idea that he created these two organizations. it was somewhat unique in the sense that his political arm, which was neo-nazi are really not the nasty datsun -- doctrine, the political arm, and then have the religious arm, different from nazi-ism in germany when hitler did not have a religious component. that really resonated with interest with the national media. doy would come and he would two things a year that would draw media in april. he would have a youth conference and in july, his so-called world and he would draw about 300 in the mid-80's from canada

and all over the united states. our look on c-span cheetos booktv and this weekend, including the program you saw moments ago, airing at 5:00 eastern time and you could check out all of our american cities towards on our website. we continue this sunday morning, the economics reporter with the wall street journal, as we look at the latest jobless numbers. good morning and thank you for being with us. now the unemployment rate is seven percent. what does that tell you about the state of u.s. economy? >> it tells me it is improving. has been making slow gains over the past year or two. given the seven percent threshold, i think it is a significant milestone. the last time we were here was november of 2008. it has been five years. it shows the labor market has improved a bit. it has also taken a long time to

get to the level. still above historical averages. >> do you have numbers on how many people actually left the workforce, no longer included in these numbers? >> it is a big concern, that the labor force participation rate has declined a bit. thinking back to last time, unemployment rate was seven percent. since then, the number of folks in the labor force has only eight ended by half a percentage point. the u.s. population has grown by five percent. people are not entering the labor force in the types of numbers you might expect. >> one of the debates you might be focusing on this week is the extension of unemployment benefits. this from nancy pelosi that says, any budget deal put forth by senator patty murray and paul ryan must include a desk and extension of unemployment benefits. democrats say this could affect 1.3 million americans by late december. >> yes. it is a tough issue because

folks with unemployment benefits, they are pretty good spenders. ofy do not have a lot disposable income. they are likely to put that back in the economy. at the same time, people on the other side would say, it is likely that is discouraging people from getting a job. i would say it falls somewhere in the middle. >> we were dividing our phone lines differently for this segment. we want to hear from those of you who remain out of work or recently hired, and those of you whose looking altogether. how you can participate. if you are currently unemployed, here's a number. recently found the job, give us a call -- you can also join us on facebook and send us an e-mail, and we

will continue to have the numbers at the bottom of the screen. have the who disgruntled workers, what options are left for them? out of work for an extended time, not only trying to find a job with a decent salary, but also to be considered for a job. >> it is difficult. the longer you're out of work, the harder it will be to find work area whether the skills are something advanced like engineering or something as simple as a retail job, think about the amount of technology that goes into that. if you are not used to the latest cash register at walmart, you will be at a disadvantage. the top u.s. executives are more bullish on the u.s. economy than in two years. how so? >> one way you can look at that is stock market and corporate office here they are stronger. that is telling a different story than middle-of-the-road

unemployment and gdp growth figures. aphids are going very well. i think ceos are feeling we could get a break out your next year. we've heard that before. >> let's drill down into the numbers bear the unemployment rate varies based on race and gender. ,mong adult men, overall, 6.7% and among adult women, six point two percent. look at this. among teenagers, nearly 21%. among blacks, 12.5%, and hispanics, a .7%. guest: one of the most numbers the female being below mail. that shows there has been strong that haveng jobs traditionally employed women. there has been relatively weak growth and a pickup in manufacturing and construction. those are particularly male jobs.

>> courtesy of the bureau of late -- labor statistics, the last month creating about 35,000 new jobs. among transportation and warehousing, 31,000 jobs, and in the area of health care, 28,000 jobs. jobs.cturing, 27 thousand construction, 17,000 jobs area than this figure, government jobs dropping by 7000. explain. >> two things. some of those numbers were among the most encouraging of the report. especially manufacturing, health care construction. those jobs can to be high paying jobs. previously, when we saw big jobs gains, they have been typically concentrated in lower wage jobs like retail and temporary jobs here that is a positive sign that could be a potential turning point this month. about government jobs, we have definitely seen a slowdown of government jobs.

everyone has seen what has happened in washington and it is in tight for state and local governments. if you look at the trend, we are starting to see the flattening. it will probably not be the same decrease next year that we have this year. >> a follow-up to my earlier question and even send in your comments. why is the economy improving. because consumers are continuing to stand and we are seeing the housing market. i can has been a big driver. that has really come back strongly this year. it is very important because not only is the real estate sector an important part of the economy. it leads to construction jobs and people buy homes and furnish those homes. i think the gains we have seen in the home sector has really helped. >> let me ask you about the federal reserve and the policy put in place by ben bernanke likely to continue in the next likely chair of the federal reserve, yellen. i want to ask you about quantitative easing and

quantitative easing three. will it continue under janet yellen? guest: it will certainly continue. the question is whether or not they will start to end it. at this point, they have continued to push forward on the bond buying program, a stimulus program for the economy. there has been a lot of talk that maybe action as this month's meeting, they will say, we will fall back on the level of stimulus we put in the economy and in the big challenge for the next fed chair, most likely janet yellen, will be, how quickly do you call away this stimulus. how quickly do you take away the punch bowl without spoiling the party. >> have you been following the battle over her nomination, will the senate pick it up next week echoplex it is certainly a possibility. i have been following that. it seems like she has a fair amount of support. if this worse -- like some of the other choices, this could've been a more contentious fight. i thought she has a clear path. >> let's go to jeff joining us

from chicago, someone who has stopped working altogether. >> good morning. that is correct. the situation in chicago, i did construction and everything. go out and find work and run the truck and by eight and fuel, hours, i made five dollars. it is just not worth it. i could have stayed home and rate the neighbor's lawn for that?ollars. >> lie is how old -- host: why is that? how old are you? caller: i am 50 years old. i ran a business, garage doors and openers. it is just not practical anymore. the margins, it is just not even worth it to go out the door. might as well stay here.

how are you surviving? caller: i am living in my mom and dad's basement. i am a low maintenance guy. i do not need a lot of things. i just help out friends and anybody that needs a hand. i actually took a cheaper job like telemarketing and stuff. anything i could do. anything. it is just, i do not know. i am sitting back and waiting to see what will happen. i will stay calm. host: thanks for the called here this is greg, currently unemployed, in florida. what is your story at the -- story? veryr: that is interesting. i was wondered with the business with people who dropped out of the market. fiction he be such a

say someone dropped off the planet, but i can see now where someone who has dropped out of the market, you live off the fat of the land. i still have problems with how you classify that. it seems to be an unquantifiable factor. i do not know why it should come up. the point i really want to get the gentleman to address, the african-american unemployment rate is 12-something percent. if the nation at it -- as a whole were at that, how would you classify and describe that in terms of the effect on the economy? would that be depression level, unemployment impactor what? what would 12% have implications for the overall economy? >> thanks

to the call. >> oh percent, you would probably be looking at a depression. the highest we hit in this deep financial crisis we had was 10%. 12%, even worse than the deepest financial crisis since the recession. i do think you make a good point that why, when we have some segment of our population with the unemployment rate closer to six percent, do we have other segments closer to 12%. i think you need to go all way back to the schools and the training opportunities available and our beagle -- p -- r people being prepared? the gentleman from chicago, he seems to agree in some cases with the ceos. they are optimistic about the economy but the biggest complaint is about regulation and health care and he was talking about some of the expansions that just running a business is hard and expensive and if you work side jobs and things like that, that is easier. fortune 500 ceos

complain there are a lot of costs to running a business. the gentleman in chicago found he based so many costs not worth doing. cliff a seven percent jobless --te, what, 92% of people in the workforce actively looking for a job, have a job. a relatively small fraction do not. to speak to the gentleman from fort lauderdale as -- rutledge -- there are many not in the workforce, someone who might be in the workforce, but really, they are not actively looking. you have people, whether they are 23, and dabbling around in an extended college, or 55 years old and dabbling around with being retired, maybe they could come back to the workforce, two. different people not in the workforce but not classified as unemployed. chris mike joining us from north

recently was hired for a job. where, and what did you do before you got laid off? caller: i got laid off in may of this year and was not able to find any work. to $12from $21 an hour an hour. i went to a larger, dutch apartment complex. out therele working were hispanics, and they are looking at me like i do not belong out there. something has got to be done about this. if they make a more we go again, they were at -- they will be after everybody's jobs. thank you. you, mike. this is from a viewer who said, how much are the booming economies due to energy, oil am a in north dakota -- is a regional factor.

you see a lot of strength in the middle of the country because of the energy home. nationally, it is not light a strong because there are large markets in texas, but it is a long way from the big employment centers in the country. where it is starting to have a subtle difference is, look at our trade numbers. we are becoming less reliance on middle east oil and oil from canada because we are producing a lot more of those resources here. i could be a big else our economy. by the next call is from lakewood ohio and i should warn graduate.orath is a sometimes, we all make mistakes. he stopped looking at the desk looking? -- you stopped looking? i am 61 years old.

the introduction of the new health-care law, i just saw the writing on the wall and decided it was time to bow out. when there is a lack of america, in corporate fueled by resentment of the employee, you get just what we have got. look at the difference between income of studios and the -- of ceo's is and the american worker without having a resentment toward the american employer. we have gotten so far away from integrity in this country. that is why i just out out. i just sold my business, decided to go to montana, yet the hell away from you not bags. it is a multifaceted problem. , and thenpolitician we have the media.

ho can we trust? we know everybody is in it to make money. host: we will get a response. it sounded like the definition of a discouraged and frustrated worker there. one point is very important. in this recovery, we have seen people lose. the previous caller said he had a $21 our job and people lose those jobs and maybe could find something for 10 or $12 an hour. that is one of the reasons why the income of the country has grown relatively slowly, even as we have added jobs at a fairly good rate over the past three years, coming from a low level. >> he unemployment report showing we have created about 200-3000 new jobs in the month of november. the unemployment rate is now at seven percent. here is this from jan, who has an unrelated question. is that fog or smog or a little bit of both in d.c. this morning?

ron is joining us from washington. good morning and thank you for being with us. you were recently hired? caller: yes. about six months ago. i took a job. ourcently built a hotel in little town. a maintenance man making $13 an hour, no benefits or holidays or anything. before that, u doing? caller: working at a mill. i work for 37 years. in order for me to just stay in haven'elderly -- er area, i have an elderly mother. [indiscernible] belowing that was way what i can survive on.

luckily, my wife has a job as well. working jobs making around $30 an hour. us, we canthe two of survive. i have one daughter in her second year in college and one daughter graduating this year. and hopes to go into college. you know, we try to help them as much as we can, as well, but it is pretty tough. typicalur story sounds of those who lost a previous job at a higher pay and were forced to take a lower wage job. is true.hat i am a faithful watcher of c- span. when the subject comes up, i hear it time and time again. there is information out there and is very difficult to know what is true and what is not.

i am a typical of what is going on in the country. jobs andf us have lost the only way we will work, especially at my age, i am 58, is to take a low-paying job. >> thank you for the call. eric morath. that is a problem because we have a skills gap in the country. he did not quite say why he lost it, but it could have been something where it was moved overseas or replaced by technology, and that type of thing, it is really hard to go, especially when you're 30 years out of training or college to get a job of comparable pay, especially when a lot of people have geographic limitations. the labor market is not something that can move across the country. our guest has covered the

u.s. auto industry and detroit is a city that continues to reel in terms of its bankruptcy, a city that continues to shrink, as well. what is next for the motor city? i am an optimist because that is where i am from, but i think this is a really positive thing for detroit. for a long time, the city has been not really guided steadily. there has been a lot of corruption and things like that. i think this hard look under the bankruptcy laws is probably what they need to adjust a lot of problems. i feel for those may be losing their pensions. and 60 and is -- 58 65 years old, you cannot go out and find another job that pays you. i am hopeful this is the seeds of a strengthening turnaround in detroit. host: frank has this point action desk point -- --this point

guest: a lot of people make difficult choices and that is the despair is -- disparity we see. seeing record returned. the other side of this country cannot even have some basic necessities in some cases. daniel next from waterville, maine. someone who have stopped looking altogether in this job. good morning and what is your story? caller: i am index paper employee, which was bought out with the intent to shut it down, because it was more or less a monopoly. retrain at 43uld years old and became an electrician. talk about a struggle. for the last 10 years, the economy in maine, i do not know if it has to do with the governor or just the way it is, but we cannot seem to get out of a recession.

[indiscernible] with theoint, government shutdown, having an impact in maine. they are laying off even though they have big contracts. job. told in may i had a every time i call, it is the same old thing. keep calling. they just keep doing the same things. years, i haveive worked one year. this year, i have worked 3.5 weeks. i see no iend insight. man lucky i am a single with an understanding landlord. guest: there are a number of other states like nevada. when you have a tough economy,

there will be a struggle. those are areas of the country that rely on government dollars, a lot of federal installations there. that is a struggle we were having with the sequester and cutbacks. interesting people would think the impact would fall most wrongly in washington, certainly there has been an impact. we have seen other areas of the country affected where the federal government is a large employer and there are not a lot of other industries to pick up the slack. municipal governments are struggling as well and unlikely to pick up the slack. host: why is productivity up? because we are working the jobs of two people. guest: he is right. productivity figures are up. there have been interesting reasons for why that is. there have been advancements in technology. the federal reserve may be somewhat responsible.

they have held interest rates low. that has made it attractive for companies to invest in machinery and technology. that can make workers more productive. there is a lot of sentiment that workers may be getting paid for eight hours and are working 10 or 11 to keep their jobs. host: this from jack hutton. we cannot seem to get out of a recession and yet we have the stock market at an all-time high? what is going on? guest: we have been out of recession for several years. the economy has been growing at a very modest pace. seeing 16% increase in the stock market over the year and unemployment at a high level. there is definitely a disconnect. labor costs are not going up much because of the poor market.

stock markets are being inflated. federal reserve policies have made it more attractive to invest in stocks. host: to our audience joining us on c-span radio, our guest is eric morath.. he covers the economy and jobless picture for the "wall street journal." joins us, someone who recently found a job, from new hampshire. tell us your story. most ofi was unemployed last winter. i recently found a job six months ago at a retirement community. i am very thankful to have my job there. it seems i keep hearing the economy is getting better. i still know a lot of people out of work. i think it has to do with obamacare. a lot of employers seem to be nervous about the new health care laws and how it is going to affect employers.

i think a lot of people are underemployed, well under 40 hours a week. i guess that is all i have to say right now. host: thanks for making the comment. we will go to robert next from new jersey, somebody still out of a job. good morning to you, sir. caller: i think the problem we are having is we wants had a powerful production workforce. when the manufacturing jobs went, it left a void. there are a lot of technological computerized jobs people are not trained for. government needs to train people for these jobs. host: we have heard a couple of colors -- guest: we have set a couple of callers who said they did not have the skills or could not get them. there needs to be look at the trinity college system and other assets to see what we can do to

get workers more qualified. to speak to the obamacare point, i think there is something to that. we have seen a lot of uncertainty. businesses do not know what the federal government's next move will be. they will be less likely to take a risk hiring a new worker or building a new plant. they will not take risks in an uncertain environment. host: the president delivered a speech calling for an increase in the minimum wage. says it makes more sense to invest in technology that would replace workers. guest: one of the classic arguments with minimum wage is it causes a transfer to more capital. others who have studied this it does not, partially because you need to look at who earns the minimum

wage. you have a lot of folks in retail sectors, fast food restaurants. there is technology that could make a difference. but it is not the same thing as in manufacturing. most manufacturing workers e arn well above the minimum wage. it is unfortunate for families who lose their jobs to a machine that allows one worker to do the work of three. it is not necessarily because of minimum wage. host: you have stopped looking completely? caller: i just turned 60 years old. i have been looking for a position for about a year and a half. i do ecological research. i have been a university professor working with the federal government doing research. iwas employed for 10 years, have 10 years with the federal

government. my most recent position with them was a term limited four- year position. when that ended about a year and a half ago, i lost my employment opportunities. i have been applying for federal positions all over the country. i have had one human resource specialist from the federal government tell me there is absolutely age discoloration. -- age discrimination. that is the bottom line. i cannot continue looking for opportunities that do not exist or are not being made available. host: thank you for your phone call. guest: we're seeing an advancement in demographics. the country is aging. there will be more competition for jobs among older folks. that is going to make it hard for some of them to find jobs, especially in the federal government. the federal government was one

of the few categories where we saw a decline in jobs this last month. i do not think we will see a big increase in federal employment. for the workers whose skill set does not match up to that, it will be a struggle. covers theuest employment picture for the "wall street journal." his work is available online. this from one of our viewers. what do you blame for the slow growth? is it congress? guest: they are not helping. i would love to see what the economy would do if we came to a budget agreement this month or next and so washington get out of the way. fascinating to see if that allow growth to pick up. i do not think it is only congress. there are a number of other factors. we have seen up and down growth

in china and europe. we saw a lot of uncertainty in the middle east. those are factors that weigh on growth. i would not say washington is helping. host: good morning from ohio. caller: i will be brief. i am african, just turned 44. i am skilled. i work as an electrician. i went back to trade school. here is the problem for african- americans. i think you push this aside. there is still a culture of racism and white supremacy in this country. we get fired quite often. you look at the prison system and when these guys come home from prison. they do not have jobs. my last job i worked for a couple of months. i was working for a company out of florida. most of the guys who worked there, all of my coworkers were white.

these guys need to have a job. they harassed me and threatened me. they actually made death threats on several occasions. i had to file a police report. when i did that, the company terminated me. i am finding myself and other african-americans in the same boat. i did not feel sorry for a lot of the white guys who do not have jobs. their numbers are half of what hours are. what you aren saying, how do you rectify the situation? is there a solution? caller: there is a solution the united states has been ignoring for years. the african-american community needs to be more involved in ownership. you preach jobs. we need to own our own community and we can give young black men coming out of prison jobs. you talk about the city of detroit and how you welcome bankruptcy. even if you welcome the

bankruptcy, isn't it ironic or hypocrisy the government can bail out car companies and big banks but a city government you choose to ignore? these people have worked 35 years for the city and you will not bail them out so they can get the rightful pension, but you bail out billionaires? this is ridiculous. this is what we are facing. let's talk about the racism and bigotry that still exists on these jobs. it is ridiculous. i know plenty of black men and women facing these thing same problems. they go through harassment. if you do not allow your white coworkers to demean you, they do not like you as an african- american on that job. host: i want to get your take on this. we covered the summer meeting. of of the topics, the amount money states spend on

correctional institutions and the challenge to find those who have been incarcerated to get back into the workforce. former inmates trying to find a job, what are the biggest challenges? what advice would you give potential employers who might be looking at hiring a former inmate? i was a correction officer almost 10 years at a maximum security prison. i faced the same thing. host: you were on the front lines of the correctional system. caller: i was. when i started reporting the abuse of inmates, i went through a lawsuit and was fired from that. one thing you have to realize is .o one wants to put in money. it is a warehouse system. i work in a prison system where you had young guys coming in at 14 or 15 doing double life sentences. we have to avoid this criminal justice system.

it is not about getting people jobs when they come out. the united states invests more money in the prison systems than they do in schools. there was a young african- american male who needed to talk to me. he was doing double life without parole at 17. he was in there because he went to a party and stopped at a friends house with a friend. the friend went in and killed two people. he did not know it. headuy put a gun to his and said if you do not help me dispose of the bodies, i will kill you. the system give him double life. he did not do it. this is what we face is african- american people. we are still under attack. a lot of these guys should not be in prison at all. you are giving people 20 years for half a rock of cocaine. it is ridiculous. that is the problem you guys need to deal with, what is really happening, and stop sugarcoating. thank you for your time.

host: i appreciate you joining the conversation. it is an important issue. difficult.s very look at the other colors we have heard from from all over the country. these are folks with 30 years of experience taking entry-level jobs. imagine how difficult it is for someone coming out of prison. that is a tough mark on your record. if the economy is coming along 5%,the unemployment rate is that person may take an entry- level job. it is difficult for the person coming out of prison to break into this labor market. it is a tough labor market. for those of you

interested in how governors are dealing with the prison population, you can click on the video library and check out the summer meeting. morath.t is eric mike is joining us from california. caller: i was recently hired. i was out of work. one thing people do not seem to understand about unemployment insurance is the maximum in california is $450 a week. on unemployment insurance still have to pay federal income tax. because of sequestration, the and employment i -- the unemployment insurance got reduced. i am making less money. we still have to pay federal income tax on that. they say these people will stay

on unemployment and not look for work. unemployment does not pay that much. it is not like you are collecting $1000 a week. it is only like $371 a week with sequestration. it is a good thing my wife works full time. for long-term unemployment, it is not much. unemployment does not last long. i would like your guest to comment on that. guest: there is no doubt unemployment does not replace the income of the job. i think it does speak to the fact that american families are having to readjust their lifestyle and get by with less. when they do take a job, taking $20 an hourom a job. hopefully unemployment gives them time to find the best job for their families. ideologically on the other side,

some people say there would be a sense of urgency when benefits run out. host: let me go through the breakdown of the numbers based on gender and race. the overall unemployment rate for white males is 6.7%. teenagers, nearly 21%. whites overall at 6.2%. atican-americans overall 12.5% and hispanics at 8.7%. guest: the education system, the job system is not treating all americans equally. you see that in the minority numbers. some of the callers have talked about this. anyou're going into environment where you are the orst person of this race

gender in that role, how much more difficult is it for you to break in as opposed to a workforce that is more diverse? host: you look at the overall but the number%, approaches numeral seven percent because of the increase in african-american unemployed and teenagers. correct? guest: that is part of the factors. you have much higher unemployment among minorities and younger people. you also look at it based on educational breakdowns. the unemployment rate is considerably higher among those who have not completed high school compared to those who have completed college. work isic morath's available online. thank you for being with us. coming up next, the vice president is back in the u.s. following a weeklong trip that

included stops in china, south korea, and japan. we will have david lampton joining us from johns hopkins to discuss the state of relations between the u.s. and china. as we have been saying all morning, a busy week in washington with a lot on the agenda for lawmakers. just one of the topics on the sunday morning programs. nancy callow is keeping track of that. today's sunday to live in talk shows, china is one of the subjects on discussion as well as iran, the life and legacy of nelson mandela, and foreign- policy issues. the latest on the role of the health-care law. you can hear rebroadcasts of the shows beginning at noon eastern. the guests include reverend jesse jackson and al sharpton. also, charles ogletree, a law professor at harvard.

at 1:00 eastern, "this week those quote with dick durbin and republican senator portman. "fox news sunday" tests include rand paul, ezekiel , a former adviser to president obama. union" talksof the with congressman michael mccaul and a member of the select committee on intelligence. at 4:00, "face the nation" from cbs. bob schieffer talks with my angelou -- maya angelou. the sunday network t.v. talk shows are on c-span radio and brought to you as a public service by the networks and c- span.

rebroadcasts begin at noon eastern with "meet the press." "state of the union." all on c-span radio, across the country on xm satellite radio. you can download our free app for your smartphone or listen .nline at c-spanradio.org >> i got upset with the because they told us [indiscernible] and then they never showed up anymore. was walking in the white house and met this woman who was one of the press people. nobody ever covers my meetings. she said mental health is not a

sexy issue. found out what was needed, develop legislation, and passed the mental health system act of 1980. it passed through congress one month before jim was involuntarily retired from the white house. the incoming president put it on a shelf and never implemented it. it is one of the greatest his appointments of my life. carter onady rosalyn monday night on c-span. >> we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences, and offering complete coverage of the u.s. house, all as a public service of private industry.

there c-span, created by cable-tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local table or satellite provider. now you can watch us in hd. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome david lampton, the director of china studies at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies as we focus on u.s.- china relations. thank you for being with us. the vice president is back from a trip that included a stop to in china. he said our relationship with china needs to be based on trust. is it? guest: certainly not now. i do not think nations generally build on trust. i think they build the relationships on interests. i think the united states and china have important common interests. they also have some conflictual interests.

trust is not the word i would use to characterize the relationship, particularly the security relationship. host: why? guest: many reasons. china's power has grown greatly in the last years in the form of military power, economic power, and cultural power. the united states has controlled the air, land, sea, cultural discourse, international organizations. the chinese people are 20% of the world's people. they want a bigger say and want to protect their power into the world. it creates friction in the relationship with the united states and china's neighbors. host: those neighbors include japan. over airte continues and water japan and china. explain what happened and why it was significant. guest: the most recent incident

involves the chinese unilateral creation of an air defense identification zone on november 23. it is china's right to create such a zone. it is not a no-fly zone. it is not a zone in which the chinese are necessarily threatening to use force, but it is a zone in which traffic is monitored. thishinese announced basically by attaching some conditions to it. the international aircraft flying into the zone would identify their planes, their path. it was mandatory notification. air defense zones generally speaking did not require mandatory identification unless you are going to the country which has created his own. it was not the creation of the zone that created the problem. it was the conditions the chinese attached to that zone,

the mandatory character of them. particular,tates in but other countries, this is a highly traveled air corridor. the fact there were conditions attached to it was very bothersome. the other thing is the chinese created this air defense zone that included airspace over contested islands with japan. inally the modus operandi creating these zones is to negotiate where you have overlapped or contested territorial spirits with other parties. the chinese unilaterally declared this without any consultation. chineseot so much the are not entitled to an air defense zone, it is they did not consult and attached conditions that were troublesome to other users like korea, japan, and the united states.

host: do you agree or disagree with what she wrote? experts say there is little likelihood we could see a direct attack china against japan. she says accidental engagement could cause severe international problems. guest: i would entirely agree. host: explain. guest: china does not want a conflict. it was only a few weeks before the china announced a 60-point decision on economic reform and reform affecting its foreign- policy. china has a full agenda of very difficult problems internally, how to sustain its economic growth. the last thing it needs is a or thet with japan united states. withf the mysteries is such a heavy agenda, why were the chinese not more careful to reassure their neighbors before

stirring up on when it's messed -- a hornet's nest? it is clear china is not looking for a conflict. but when you have this much aircraft moving in close proximity and when we also have contested space on the ocean, similar problem, when you get this many people in some state of tension moving close at high speeds, something unfortunate could happen. 2001 underember in president george w. bush, we had the ep3 airplane incident where a reckless chinese pilot ran into our naval aircraft and standoffted a 12-day in which our air men and women were, as the chinese put it, held as guests of the chinese government until it was sorted

out. host: why should those watching or listening care? why is it important? guest: it is important in a number of ways. you could have a next of that could escalate -- you could have an accident that could escalate. japan is an ally of the united states. we could become involved reckless or indirectly. itsgovernment has stated intention to live up to treaty obligations in this case. you could end up in conflict. in a bigger historical sense, it is important because china is 22% of the world's people. it is our fastest growing major export market. to projectcity military force and so forth. it has the capacity to affect our interests around the world in a negative way, but also it

has the potential to affect our interests positively. weare walk-through date -- are cooperating and anti-piracy missions. transnationalg problems in the world like public health, pollution, climate change, it is inconceivable these problems can be addressed unless we cooperate with china. we have the immediate danger of term potentialong- for cooperation. host: was it a consequential week for the vice president and international relations? guest: vice president biden and his team did a good job on the trip. or have been a few problems along the way. he was trying to reassure japan we will live up to our obligations with japan without

inflaming china. also, korea and japan are not getting along. every stop along the way, he had a balancing act to perform. i think he moved the discussion along with china to the point where china is not going to back off of its air defense identification zone, but i think there is a good prospect china is going to implement it in a way that will not be dangerous. host: let me get your reaction to the comments of secretary chuck hagel who had this to say last wednesday on operations by the chinese government in international airspace and u.s. reaction. i have not spoken to my chinese counterpart. i have spoken to our allies. question on the bigger picture, what may have

been behind this, i do not know. but i would focus on one that generalea dempsey and the chiefs have put a lot of effort into and was very much a centerpiece of the conversation between the presidents a few months ago. that is developing a stronger military relationship. we have been working at that, both sides. counterpart,all my the chinese defense minister, was here in august. i hosted him here. times seen him two other in the asia-pacific. toward a stronger relationship to build mechanisms

to address some of these tension issues, which probably are not going to get less complicated in the east and south china sea. it is important for china, japan, south korea, all nations calm andrea, to stay responsible. these are combustible issues. we have been a role tried to play, the united states, and the influence we have. host: your reaction? guest: what he had to say is correct. we do not know why the chinese took the opportunity to declare this air defense some. my own view is china believes it now has strength that entitles it to the same privileges as the

united states, and it is going to assert them. i think there is thought in beijing the united states is distracted and preoccupied with foreign problems and domestic problems, that now is the time to move. that might be one reason. chineser might be the wanted to assert their claim over these islands or strengthen that claim. i think that is true. the secretary also mentioned military to military relations. i think it is true u.s.-china military to military relations in the last year has greatly improved. we recently had a humanitarian joint military exercise near which represented a significant step forward in our bilateral military to military relations.

underneath, i am not as confident as i would like to be. around the pla looks world and says, where might we get into a major power conflict and who would be the adversary? the united states is probably the answer in most cases. when the united states looks at asia and says, where might we get into a big our conflict? the answer is the people's liberation army from the china. there is this dynamic of this securitymistrust, this dilemma. we want to walk which of relationships but have to prepare for worst-case scenarios, both militaries. you have both hedging its bets. on the one hand, trying to improve relations, but on the other preparing if things go south. host: we are speaking with david

career in lengthy this area, including serving as the president on the national committee on u.s.-china thetions, also director of american-china studies. before that affiliated with the nixon center, graduate of stanford university. vicki joining us from printing, florida, on the democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have been curious about the question i will ask for a long time that fits in with your conversation today. and seeing government corporation relationships have their own separate agenda. corporations allowed to do private deals with countries, , when our china government has a different agenda? first of all, the u.s.

government is a complicated thing. it certainly includes capitol hill. there you have 535 different agendas. you have the executive branch which has the commerce department on one hand and the defense department on the other. the u.s. government is not of one opinion. since president nixon went to china in 1972, an important u.s. government objective has been the promotion of u.s. trading relationships with china. the basis of american power is growth of our economy. we need high-paying export jobs that come with exports to china, france, or britain. a central part of america's development interests is economic growth. china has been the most rapidly

growing major economy in the world for 30 years. every corporation realizes if it is going to have the scales of , they have to be selling to the society that has the most rapidly growing middle class. has alwaysovernment had a big economic agenda with once wecause we believe develop more interdependence with china -- we each need each other -- we have more incentives to mutually accommodate each other. i do not agree with the premise of the question, that the government does not want economic relations. the irony is if we're worried about china's long-term economics, to have intercourse and the transfer of technology those up china's

capacities that could be used against us. we have to balance these economic incentives between the unknown future and our fears and current needs and aspirations and economic requirements. the agenda of major there is no, fortune 500 company that could justify not pursuing the chinese there is ass particular security interest in the technology involved. stockholders, retirement funds all demand yield. you and your 401(k) want to see your mutual funds doing well. almost every american and global corporation sees china as a major growth opportunity. a ceo not pursuing that would probably be replaced by stockholders. conflictthink the

between the government and corporate world is as uniform as you make. but you are correct saying there is a problem. if we are worried about china's future potential, how do we want to go forward in the economic relationship? host: this is from a viewer. how safe is taiwan? is china still interested in them? guest: china is very interested. sense is safer than it has been since 1949 because taiwan has a president that has been working well on economic relations -- cross- trade economic relations. in this sense, taiwan is in better shape than it has been in a long time. people with a longer perspective would look at the fact that taiwan is becoming more integrated into the mainland economy.

taiwan has the mainland as its biggest export market. china is increasingly investing on taiwan. i would say the future room for maneuver for the people of taiwan is diminishing with economic interdependence. once again, you have this of economic gains with the business and cultural relationship -- or do we worry about the long-term implications in the long run? host: our next call is jack from providence, rhode island. caller: good morning. ?ello caller host: you are on the air. caller: there is a book out. therding to this general, chinese army by the year 2049, theelieves china will usurp

united states and be the number one global power on the globe. the reason he picked that date is it is the 100-year anniversary of the successful communist takeover of china in 1949. host: david lampton, your reaction? guest: it depends on what you mean by power. if you mean military power, that may not be the case. if you mean economic power measured by gross domestic product, it almost certainly will be the case that china before 2049 will be the world's biggest economy in aggregate terms. thea has four plus times population we do. in a per capita cents, the united states will be wealthier. china's soft power is still

greatly limited by the political system which is not highly democratic. of do not see large numbers immigrants seeking to go to china as a haven from whatever problems they may face at home. i think the key to america's future is not what china does. it is what america does. ande develop our economy govern ourselves effectively, i think our soft power, economic power, and military power will be very adequate to our needs. china is making progress. we should hope china makes progress. after all, it is 20% of the world's people. we ought to wish them the best. on the other hand, we ought to be mindful of our own security and other interests. host: we have one viewer that puts it this way. the same people that fear competition fear china.

guest: i do not know how you can be a capitalist and fear competition. we think that is a driving engine. if the chinese become more innovative, we've got to educate our kids and grandkids to innovate even faster. values out-of-the-box thinking, entrepreneurship, venture capital. i think we are constructed as a society to be very competitive in the 21st century. china has lots of problems that limit its capacity to be as competitive as we can be. the tradition that of conformity. education is one of repetition. there are penalties that go with nonconformity in china.

in the end, nonconformity is another word for innovation. is nowhe vice president back in the u.s. he traveled with the vice president. his work from the "new york times" this morning. our next call is from michigan. this guest has a lot to tie in with the previous guest on the show. a lot of our problems with jobs and stuff is companies want to china lock, stock, and barrel. they did that because they did not like regulations in america or labor unions. they did not want that so businesses went to china because they were lax. has no environmental

policies at all. that country is in sad shape environmentally because they have expanded industry without thinking of infrastructure at all. believeeen led to things sold in china have to be made in china. you said something about the growth of the middle class in china, about wine consumer goods is going to help us. but if it is true that stuff sold in china has to be made in china, that will not help us read i believe that is correct. host: thanks for the call. i will pick up on your second point with regard to environmental issues. we have a tweet saying china is eating our lunch on alternative energy production. i want to share what the epa administrator said this past week before she traveled to beijing to discuss this issue.

[video clip] >> china is based with the challenge of having 1.3 billion people, 150 cities that are larger than one million people. their fossil fuel burning is coal. that happens at power plants as well as in industry. they are significant producers of steel and other sectors the u.s. no longer has robust manufacturing in. they also have an abundance of coal, even coal-fired household cook stoves and heating units in those cities, which contributes significant amounts of pollution. the challenge is broad and deep in terms of what they are going to do with their cities. host: david lampton, to the

point from our viewers and gina mccarthy, how big of a problem is it? guest: i think if one were to see in the near future widespread instability in china, probably a big part of the picture explaining why you have it would be environmental. it is one thing to have political disagreements with your government. it is one thing to have aspirations for more freedom. you you cannot breathe, then have a problem that affects everybody irrespective of other inclinations. china has talked about the origins of public and stability. -- instability. one of the big things is environmental, another is land grabs, a third is corruption. environmental issues have become one of the big three destabilizing factors in china. i think all of your commentary

we just heard speaks to that issue. you ask, why does china have all these environmental problems? difficult problems usually have multiple origins, and there are many reasons for this. china has the most rapidly growing middle class in the world. the numbers are debatable, but just say 300 million. this is a population approximately the size of the u.s., but china still has a billion people that want to be in the middle class. that means refrigerators, air conditioners, and cars, and so forth. that is why american companies want to be there. we have a long time of china's consumption that will go up, almost no matter what china does with green energy. it will be burning twice the volume of coal in 2040 that it is burning now, almost

irrespective of how many nuclear power plants they build and so forth. anyway, china has enormous problem. quite frankly, we have to accept our responsibility. the world is looking for cheap consumer goods. because our environmental standards have gone up in the states, japan,d and europe, we have offloaded to the developing world parts of the production chain that are labor intensive or environmental effect intensive. in our search to maintain low inflation and high consumption, we have unloaded a lot of dirty industry on the developing world. that is certainly something to consider as well. china holdsing is power primarily because they are improving the economic standard of the chinese people.

that means economic growth. they have a growth model that requires heavy investment in heavy industry. andman, concrete, steel -- these are highly polluting. that is why china is trying to move away from its growth model. the only resource it has at world levels is coal. it is deficient in every other resource. its leaderses, realize, its peoples realize they cannot continue this environmental degradation. what are they going to do? host: this tweet says in two years china's people will be too sick to work as coal is severely polluting their air. guest: i can give you one example. i was in china and have the opportunity to leave 24 hours

earlier. i asked how much it would cost to change my ticket. the answer was $400. i would lose another $200 on my hotel. i paid $600 out of my own pocket to leave beijing one day early because of air pollution. host: let's go to scott in illinois. caller: thank you for taking my call. my main question is, what is america's solution to protect infringementstent and trade agreements that may be broken between china relations and ourselves? guest: this has been a long-term problem for about 30 years. it is getting better. you ought to include in this cyber espionage and what one might call the looting of

american intellectual property. you ask, what is the solution? the solution is partly equalizing china's development. as china tries to move up the value added chain and become more innovative, it will have its own entrepreneurs. when it has its own entrepreneurs and innovators, it will require more protection of their intellectual property. i think foreigners will benefit. that is a process that will take 30 or more years. we did see the process in korea, taiwan, and japan. they were all copiers and thieves of our intellectual property at an earlier stage. development is part of the answer. you cannot wait 20 or 30 years to do something effective -- anything effective. china is losing a lot of investment. intellectual property innovators and intellectual property intensive firms try to keep the

crown jewels of their technology out of china entirely. itsa will have to beef up system if it wants to attract the front end of highly innovative technology. keeping the crown jewels out of china is certainly to be done. china wants us to transfer technology to them. trip, onedent biden's of the things the senior chinese leaders he met with brought up the u.s. embargo of certain export controls on high technology. we have security reasons to worry about some of this technology, but we also have intellectual property reasons. this is going to be a continual fight. the problem is not going to be solved. part of the problem will be resolved as china modernizes.

in the meantime, world innovators will be reluctant to put the crown jewels in china. host: our guest is the director of the china studies program at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. stephen, good morning. caller: it is interesting to note the western world has taken a lot of technology from china. paper by the germans and silk by the italians. china has a long history. we could look at examples of everything going on now in the past. host: does it go both ways? guest: the examples cited by the listener were in what i would call ancient history. you would add to that list, gunpowder. more recently if you look at copyrights and patents, you will see china is moving up in the number of copyrights and patents

registered domestically and internationally. so china is developing technology. much of it is process technology, that is how to make things more efficiently rather than entire new genres of technology. china does not have the modern thomas edison or charles kettering. the people who innovate and develop entirely new technologies that transform our economy. but is what china wants, you have to organize your society to produce it. you have to educate the critical thinkers and innovators to do it. that is a decade long process. i am in favor of acknowledging what china contributes to the world. it is moving ahead in making production processes more efficient. it is very good at adapting existing technology to market requirements. the chinese are innovative, but not in the edison sense of the

word. host: we have about a minute left. the next and last caller is from potomac, maryland. caller: without china being wto, we did pretty well. our economy was booming. what bothers me most is when i that the chinese are buying luxury cars. we heardast segment, millions of americans who can 't get decent jobs. host: i will stop you on that point and get response from our guest. guest: the best way to do it economic competition is to up your own game. we need to up our research

expenditures and education. if we improve our game, we do not want need -- we do not need to worry about the chinese. host: david lampton, thank you for being with us and sharing your expertise. we will continue the conversation tomorrow morning. the executivets, director of the concord coalition. the deadline is friday for negotiators to work on a budget agreement for the next two years. jeffrey young will continue us as we continue our monday health care series on the affordable care act. he covers the issue for huffington post and will talk about medicaid. pentagonook at spending, specifically the cost of personnel in the u.s. military. thanks for joining us on the sunday edition of "washington journal." newsmakers is next.

check out all of the sunday shows starting at noon eastern. enjoy the rest of your weekend. have a great week ahead. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] "newsmakers"next, with representative adam smith, the ranking member of the house armed services services committe and talks about issues relative to the military. that, u.s.. in england. then a hearing on long-term unemployment benefits. this week on "newsmakers"

congressman adam smith joins us from seattle. we are joined in the studio by frank allaveri. would like to ask you about afghanistan. the obama administration thought fought the deal to keep the troops there since -- two 2014. do you see any way of resolving this before the incident the year or will the stride on until afghanistan elects a new president? afghanistan approved it. no one has said that they are going to need to change it. president karzai has said he does not want to be